#1. What are the current English language teaching policies prescribed by the Department of Education for Philippine public secondary schools? What educational philosophies and pedagogical approaches guide these policies? What are the factors that influence policy makers? What processes are followed in formulating such policies? What mechanisms are used for relaying them to various school divisions?
*This the ideal topic for me because I originally wanted it to be part of my dissertation and it’s something that interests me. However, during the mock defense, one of the suggestions was to delete this set of questions because according to the panelists, my focus should be on teacher cognition. I’m still thinking about it. If I pursue it for my LPP paper though, my biggest problem is the TIME for data gathering. To answer the questions above, I need to contact DepEd and interview officials, policy makers, division heads, and public school teachers to get solid data. I don’t think I can do it in a week considering my personal circumstances and taking into account the national elections on May 10.
#2. What steps may be taken to empower teachers in language planning and policy? How can language programs be improved by teachers themselves? What framework may be used in conducting a systematic language program review by teachers?
*I would like to present a case study based on the language program review that the Ateneo SOH English Department conducted from 2008 to 2010. As the En11/12 Coordinator, I initiated it with the help of a committee of dedicated English teachers. The focus of the LPP paper would be the PROCESS that we followed in conducting the review. Based on this process, I would propose a FRAMEWORK that other ELT practitioners may follow in conducting their own language program review that may lead to changes in their ELT policies and practices. I think this is more feasible than the first one and it’s also something I’d like to work on.
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Hi Len:
ReplyDeleteI think both your topics are feasible.
With topic #1, your can perhaps limit yourself to an exploration of the first two questions you raised and just focus on the analysis of official documents, supplemented perhaps by newspaper articles, online sources, etc. You don't need to have all the DepEd documents; you can just start with what they put online (and there are stuff online e.g. Executive Orders, etc.), and then perhaps search for interviews of DepEd officials, if any. Something like this would be more than enough for the 15 page paper that I'm requiring, and you can do most if not all of your research online. What will be important (apart of course from being systematic in your online search) is your analysis.
Your second topic is feasible but I'm a bit hesitant about your writing about it because: (1) I would really prefer that you work on something that is, somehow, connected to your dissertation, (2) I have some reservations about your recommending a 'general' framework that other ELT practitioners can follow, in the end. It's useful but it's not quite the thrust of this course. Perhaps you could change your focus a bit and examine carefully the process using the frameworks, ideas, concepts, etc. that we have covered so far. (3) The process that you will describe will be your perception of the process you followed. What would be the perceptions of the other English teachers in the committee? What do they think? Again, I can see how you can work around these issues and how this can also be a workable topic.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks for your suggestions, Bea! I think I'll choose the FIRST TOPIC because it's what I really want to work on. I'll just use available materials that I can access as you've suggested. Later on, I can probably conduct the interviews for my dissertation. I'll focus on the first two questions and explore the rest because I have read some articles that may help me discuss them.
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